New member here, looking for advice from the group

Newcomer introductions, personal anecdotes, caregiver issues, lab results, and n=1 experimentation.
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fly
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New member here, looking for advice from the group

Post by fly »

Hello all of you wonderful people!

About me:
I am a 53 year old woman. In my late 30s, I noticed that my memory was slipping (I started with an excellent memory). Since then, I have experienced increased challenges learning new things and retaining information, forgetting words, people, movie plots, and more that I can't remember! I have also experienced difficulty with mental math and spatial navigation (clumsiness) and perhaps the biggest challenge has been a total lack of motivation to be engaged in life and a loss of enjoyment in living. This "depression" has been accompanied by brain fog and fatigue and got to the point where sitting at the dinner table was too much for me and even making a committment to watch a television show would be difficult.

When I went in for my annual gyn exam a few years ago, she gave me a mental health quiz which as you can probably deduce was off the charts for depression so she prescribed me zoloft and then welbutrin. I had heard about Dr. Bredesen's work several years ago and believed it could help me but I completely lacked the motivation to follow through. Eventually I purchased a bunch of the supplements but again, lacked the follow through to take them. We are talking serious baby stepping.

Fast forward to June of this year. I'm not sure what happened, but a little spark in me told me to wake up and address the elephant! It's been really hard for me due to the complexity of the protocol and due to my scattered thinking but I am finally making some progress.

This is what I've done to date:
23 and Me health test: I am a 3/4 (My mother is 80 and is suffering from Alzheimer's disease--confirmed by PET scan)

I joined the RECODE program and had lab testing done (their basics) and got my first report. The report gave me the following suggestions:
1. resolve ongoing inflammation and prevent new inflammation (my CRP was 10 mg/l). I suffer from frequent upper respiratory infections/sinus infections

2. Optimize hormone support for your brain (I'm perimenopausal so I know this is an issue for me)

3. Achieve the most functional level of magnesium. Mine is 5.1.

4. Achieve an ideal zinc level. (Mine is 66ug/dl) and copper is 119 ug/dl

5. Minimize exposure to dementogens. I have stopped all prescription medications and only take tylenol/ibuprofen occasionally as needed.


Sleep has been an issue for me a long time and I gave up the ambien and now take an herbal drop with valarian root, melatonin and a few other proprietary herbs.

My weight is low, BP is low, and blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. are all where they should be.

I am fairly active (I'm a nurse at a medical daycare so I wrangle babies 3 days a week) but I have lacked motivation to engage in regular vigorous exercise.

My resources are limited due to family circumstances right now. If you were me, what would you pursue next?

I have loaded up on supplements and I have been been pretty good about taking them. I have been good about adding vegetables to my diet but less successful at eliminating dairy and gluten. When I have been following protocol most closely, I have felt much better (energy and enthusiasm for life) but I haven't noticed any improved cognition.

Thank you for reading this long message and for any advice/perspective you can provide. I have lurked a while and have been afraid to post because I am somewhat scattered but then I realized that this group is filed with kind and helpful people and I have nothing to be afraid of.
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Sara
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Re: New member here, looking for advice from the group

Post by Sara »

fly wrote:Hello all of you wonderful people! About me: I am a 53 year old woman. In my late 30s, I noticed that my memory was slipping (I started with an excellent memory).
Hi Fly, Welcome officially to the apoe4.info site! Kudo's and thank you for sharing your story with us. I am so happy to hear that you caught the spark and were able to take some very important steps, especially in regard to testing, as well as making changes with your nutrition and medications. Congratulations for recognizing that when you followed the protocol most closely, that your energy and enthusiasm for life improved. The Primer is a great educational resource that you will find helpful.

I want to clarify that I am not a clinician, rather a health coach, so please keep in mind as I give you my suggestions. Consider starting by optimizing your hormone support because that may give you some additional sparks to carry through with the other components of the plan. I know that it did for me! Continue improving your nutrition... you should have access to the Ketoflex 12/3 nutritional plan which is on the website where your ReCODE Report is located. Also important would be to implement the supplements as recommended in the report which will help you address inflammation. I look forward to hearing what other suggestions members have for you. Wishing you the very best!
Certified ReCODE 2.0 Brain Health Coach, MOCA Certified
MBA, Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach
Brain Health Professional - Amen University
Surviving loved one who transitioned with AD
LA18
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Re: New member here, looking for advice from the group

Post by LA18 »

Fly, hi. Your symptoms, in particular the problems with memory, mental math and spatial navigation, sound very similar to what I have experienced, with the cognitive decline beginning in my 30s. Years later I found out that I had Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and very likely Dr. Bredesen’s Type 3 Alzheimer’s. When I hit perimenopause in my early 50s I was essentially non-functional. I’m treating the CIRS (mainly from mold exposure) and am improving, and I’m doing hormone replacement, which has helped tremendously. While it may not be an issue for you, you might consider testing for CIRS if you haven’t already done so. I don’t know if that’s part of the basic RECODE testing. If it’s not, and you want to test but can’t find a doctor willing to order what’s required, Life Extension has a direct-to-consumer CIRS (biotoxin) panel that’s fairly comprehensive for $425. Congratulations on already making a number of positive changes and good luck as you move toward improved health.
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slacker
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Re: New member here, looking for advice from the group

Post by slacker »

fly wrote:
I joined the RECODE program and had lab testing done (their basics) and got my first report. The report gave me the following suggestions:
1. resolve ongoing inflammation and prevent new inflammation (my CRP was 10 mg/l). I suffer from frequent upper respiratory infections/sinus infections
Hi fly;

I'm concerned that a CRP of 10 may indicate inflammation above and beyond what frequent upper respiratory or sinus infections would create. It might be important to work with a health care practitioner to help determine what else might be driving this inflammation. Supplements may help, but getting to the root cause(s) is important. Here's a simple discussion of other things to to consider.
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